According to the Australian Actors’ Wellbeing Study that was carried out in 2015, people who regularly perform are much more prone to depression and anxiety than those who do not. The study also revealed that actors are also more prone to high stress levels because of issues such as job security and low income. Throughout history it is observed that people who act often end up turning into emotional train wrecks, this is owed to the fact that actors have to incite emotions and feeling of various kinds in order to get into character.

Most of you might think that being an actor is one of the easiest jobs out there, however, studies have revealed that this line of work can be really stress inducing, especially at an emotional level. Most actors being out deep and strong emotions in order to “connect” with the role that they play, and once they are done with the role, most actors (specially the less experienced ones) do not take time to separate themselves from those emotions. This can lead to emotional hangovers which can have negative effects that make it harder for them to cope with their personal lives.

Fortunately, there is now an active effort into doing something about this problem, acting schools and companies have been looking into what they can do for their performers’ mental health being.

This problem begins when an actor tries to “put on” a role, this process is much more complex then what one might think and once an actor has gotten into character, it is equally hard to let go of the emotions associated with the role. In fact, many actors have a harder time letting go of those emotions, some even end up carrying them over to their lives and then have to deal with their negative consequences.

Acting teachers sometimes have to point this out to their students since the actor often does not even realise that what is happening. Another reason why actors have to deal with a lot of emotional troubles is that they often delve into their personal histories in order to find the right emotions. This can result in the actor being traumatised if they are triggering memories that are unpleasant for them. Acting schools need to be really careful when working on plays that involve themes sexual assault and domestic violence since things could get messy for students who have experienced such events in their own past.

The best way to ensure that harmful emotions do not seep into the actor’s life is to carry out de-rolling sessions after every play, these sessions could consist of a cast feedback session, carrying out deep breathing exercises and physical exercises to help individuals relax. Carrying out such activities has become really important since it helps actors differentiate between the stage and the rest of the world, making it easier for them to leave all the emotions and feeling associated with their characters on the stage.

When the video camera came out, it revolutionised the world in many ways, it had a significant impact in the theatrical world as well since actors and directors now had access to a much wider set of options when making their work. With the advent of film, the practice of using “non-actors” in movies came into existence, this basically involved selecting people not based on their acting ability and skill, but rather on how well did their “type” match with how the director had imagined a specific character in their mind.

This meant that many actors who were on film were simply playing an enhanced version of themselves on screen, this allowed movies to feel more natural and made every character in the movie seem more real as well. The concept of using “non-actors” to play roles on camera is effective in a way, however there are many people who criticize this practice, saying that movie stars on camera do not have to be as talented as stars on stage, critics also state that judging a non-actors acting skills is harder since you cannot say whether they are actually acting or whether they are simply being themselves in front of the camera.

Regardless of what people think or do not think about this practice, it goes without saying that this practice, coupled with advancements in technology have allowed actors to carry out stunts and feats that would never have been possible on stage. By not having to perform in front of a live audience, actors are able to perform the same lines over and over again until the perfect take has been captured, resulting in a movie that is free of any mistakes that might ruin the viewer’s level of immersion in the story.

At the core of using non-actors to depict roles on screen is a constant effort made by the director to capture emotions and feelings on the camera that are pure, many directors have hired non-actors simply because they do not want their work to include emotions that are fake. The act of hiring fake actors can be seen throughout the history of modern cinema, in some cases it has produced great results while in other cases it has led to movies lacking polish or being downright mediocre, in the end, when hiring non-actors, one is pretty much playing a gamble.

Just like the age of heroes died out when weaponry became modernised, the acting industry has become a victim of the inevitability of time moving on. Gone are the days when movie stars where measured and rated based on their stage experience and what kind of tutelage had they undergone. Acting schools have slowly started to lose their popularity since less and less actors are wanting to go to them since nowadays people are being chosen for roles on film simply because they have achieved stardom on social media.

Mary Boyer’s acting school is a prime example; an acting school that was founded in 2003 and had up to 150 students, but its number of students had been reduced to only 50 by 2008. According to Ms. Boyer, the reason behind this was that as the economy changed, so did the requirements of the audience and actors. She had noted that newer students were often looking for instant gratification and that overall her teaching methods simply failed to meet the expectations of the newer generation.

Mary Boyer’s school is not the only one that suffered, many renowned acting schools that had helped produce spectacular actors have now had to make compromises and cut downs in order to keep themselves from collapsing completely. The biggest problem is that while the number of students for these schools continues to dwindle, their expenses such as rent keeps on rising, making it harder for them to function like they used to.

Another reason behind these hard times for acting studios is that some of the biggest acting studios in the world decided to join forces with universities at one point, this lead to their power and reach multiplying. These acting schools have dominated the market since then and have made it next to impossible for many independent schools to maintain a grip on their turf. With larger budgets, university level acting schools are able to run more effective recruitment programs and even get to pick from the cream of the crop through their alumni systems, leaving other schools in a corner.

University level acting schools are also able to provide their students with much more exposure, their larger and more modernised facilities coupled with their ties and connections provide young actors with everything that they need in order to hone and perfect their talents. However, even these star studded schools have been having to deal with the problems of rising costs, every year living costs are becoming greater and greater. Some schools have remedied this problem by simply raising their fees while others who are more passionate about their work have had to make compromises in order to keep their services from becoming too expensive.

Some schools have had to relocate from their original locations to places which have lower rents while others have had to sacrifice space to lower their annual rents, acting schools everywhere are in for a hard time and this trend is only going to rise in the near future.